The Clawson Trojans believed that they could win the Macomb Area Conference Gold despite never winning a league title that prestigious in their program’s history.

On Wednesday, they had a chance to confirm that belief — and with a 2-1 win over the Warren Mott Marauders, they finished off the league, becoming responsible for Mott’s only two league losses of the year.

“Just for the school, 350 kids in the school, and we go against schools with, you know, 100, 1,200, 1,500 (students),” said Clawson head coach Brian Maurer. “And a season like this, and how we just caught fire, got on a roll — the belief system, right? And what that can do through a program going forward, little kids seeing it, seeing the little engine that could. And we just pride ourselves on hard work in the off season and see how it pays off.

“And we just paid it off for the first time in history.”

The weather, which seemingly reverted to the cold, gray spitting rain of early April, made things a challenge for both teams as Mott pitcher Sharon Becroft and Clawson’s Sarah McLeod cruised early.

Mott had chances, getting two runners on in the first and second innings and getting a runner on second in the fourth, but McLeod quelled each opportunity.

Clawson, on the other hand, didn’t get their first hit until the sixth inning; with two outs and the score still tied at zero, Dana Moss singled and McLeod doubled to get two runners in scoring position. A walk to Meghan Shea and another to Alaina Maloney loaded the bases then pushed across Moss, breaking the scoreless tie.

Chloe Fisher popped a looper over Mott second baseman Miley Xiong to add their second run.

Both walks were made on calls that the Mott side thought could have gone either way.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh and the league on the line, Mott’s Megan Melnyk hit a leadoff single then promptly scored on a triple by Aubrie Vojnov. Drina Lazarus then scored to represent the winning run, and her pinch-runner, Aubrey Sopala, reached second with one out.

McLeod got a strikeout, then Maurer chose to intentionally walk Becroft, setting up a game-winning weak popout to McLeod herself to close out the league.

The Trojans senior class, led by McLeod, has come a long way after finishing near the bottom of the Gold in the last two seasons.

“It really means a lot,” McLeod said. “I know that we were told, like a lot of teams really didn’t think that we would get that far this year, and we’ve really improved over the last four years. And I’m just really proud of the girls, and they’ve done a lot of work over the off season. Like, they did so much, a lot of hours put in, and I think it really paid off. And I’m really proud of my team.”

McLeod finished with seven innings of one-run ball, scattering six hits and three walks with nine strikeouts.

Becroft also punched out nine, walking four and allowing three hits for two runs.

Mott head coach Jim Carlisle admitted that the Marauders are in the midst of a difficult week, with the Clawson game marking their fifth-straight loss.

They’ll need a quick bounceback with their season suddenly on the line with a Thursday, May 22 pre-district contest against rival Warren Woods Tower on the docket.

“We’ve had some really emotional games this week, and it’s just tough to say how much these kids can endure,” Carlisle said.

“Come back 24 hours later and play in another emotional game. And it’s tough on anybody, much less 15, 16, 17 year old kids.”

With good pitching and good defense — they made only one error on Wednesday with no runs coming off it — their folly was their runners left on base.

While they were proud to play for a MAC Gold title, that wasn’t their goal, said Carlisle: “Our goal is to win it, not play in it.”

Clawson’s turnaround was even quicker than Mott’s — they had another game scheduled for one hour after the conclusion of Wednesday’s game back at their home field, Clawson City Park, which is over six miles away against Center Line. With their 15-0 win there, they secured an undefeated Gold slate.

The Trojans said they drew some inspiration from their girls basketball team, which had a historically strong season, going 20-3 with a MAC Silver championship, which they ironically shared with Mott.

But the softball Trojans have a chance to do something the basketball team couldn’t: advance in the district tournament.

“Focus and have fun,” Maurer said. “It’s playing the season. It’s not about mechanics. It’s just about focusing on every pitch, keeping your head, keeping your IQ in the game, noticing, you know, where we’re at in the game.

“This team is resilient, and they just never fluster. They’re laughing, they’re smiling. Doesn’t matter how hard the game is. Yeah, resiliency is the name of this team right here.”

The Trojans will face the winner of Tuesday, May 27’s game between Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett and Auburn Hills Oakland Christian in the District 91 semifinals at Clawson City Park at 10 a.m. With a win, they’ll play for a district title later that day.